1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed toward presenting network security and intrusion information to a user. More specifically, the present invention provides a scalable method, computer program product, and apparatus for concise display of information relating to a series of security violations.
2. Description of Related Art
Much of the progress in computer technology in recent years has centered around inter-computer communication. Networks of small-scale computers have all but replaced the bulky mainframe computers of the past. It is less expensive and more efficient for users to share data among single-user workstations and small-scale servers than it is to share computing time on a single mainframe computer.
Increases in connectivity between computers, especially through the Internet, the world's largest and most interconnected computer network, are not without costs. Increased connectivity brings with it an increased likelihood of a security breach or other malevolent activity. Put another way, the more accessible computers become, the more they will be accessed.
It is thus imperative for organizations that rely on networks of computers to have effective security violation detection systems in place to prevent and remedy security compromises. In particular, where many system events that might be categorized as suspicious take place, it is important to be able to sort through a large amount of event data to determine what is actually taking place. When system events are simply “dumped” to a human administrator or user, it is difficult for the human administrator to sort through and make sense of the data.
A number of systems have been developed to address this need. Currently available systems apply pattern-matching techniques to identify automatically particular types of security breaches from system events.
Automated pattern-matching systems that “simulate” reasoning—however much they aid network administrators in interpreting the large volumes of event data produced within a network—are not without limitations. Pattern-matching algorithms are only as effective as they patterns they search for. They have little ability to adapt to situations not envisioned by their designers.
What is needed, then is a system for presenting information about security-related events in a system, that puts the information into a form that a human administrator can readily work with. Further, what is needed is a system that is scalable—that is, one that can be expanded proportionally with the size of the network so as to accommodate networks of various sizes.